Sherlock's comment on Mollys body in ASiB

 (Sherlock meta by ladycumberbunny and mae-jones)

ladycumberbunny: 

S2E1 - A Scandal in Belgravia

Is no one going to mention the fact that Irene Adler and Molly Hooper have almost the same body type? And here Sherlock is verbally shredding Molly about certain aspects such as her “small” mouth and breasts.

I am a hardcore Sherlolly shipper, but you have to admit that Sherlock had at least some interest in Irene, and he can say it was her mind all he wants, because for all the “everything else is just transport” nonsense, he is still a man.

I’m just saying that I think he is so very defensive towards Molly in this scene, and it makes me wonder why.

mae-jones:

Ah, well, if you think about what Sherlock said, he did not say that ‘in his opinion’ her breasts and mouth were too small, but implied Molly might think this of herself.

If you further contemplate Sherlock being all Sherlock, his derision and scorn was not for her appearance but rather the concept that she felt this way about herself for no good reason. This is a prime example of his disdain being misread, in my mind. In fact, in his Sherlock-y kind of way, he might have thought he was communicating the opposite (in that Molly need not go to such great lengths with her appearance because it was unnecessary).

Now, if you think about how he pauses and muses for a second after she calls him out, yes, he is surprised that he hurt her but you gotta know in that moment, a million possibilities of what he should do next ran through his mind. It is OOC for Sherlock to NOT to give a rambling response. That is why the moment stands out, because he didn’t do that. If Molly wasn’t special to him in some manner, he would have rattled off something else as he has been known to do when he has insulted others. He gives about zero shits for anyone thinking he is a dick so we know the apology wasn’t to make him look better to bystanders. He has never been hesitant to explain or misdirect before. So why didn’t he do that? Why?

You can see the wheels grinding in his head. He wants to minimize the hurt, that part is obvious. However, there is a lot going on in his head. He probably ran the scenario of explaining himself to her but rejected it, perhaps because his first inclination is usually to say exactly what is in his thoughts. What was he thinking then? Maybe it was that he DOES find her attractive, not something I think he wanted to admit in front of this particular gathering. In fact, he decided anything and everything he actually thought was best left unsaid.

So absent an alternative, he deduced it was better to just apologize and leave it at that. What he didn’t say spoke louder than words.